Why a new business era inspired by nature not greed can benefit us all

Five years ago last week, BNP-Paribas kick started the mother of all recessions.

Unprecedented fraud, mindless greed and reckless gambling in the financial sector (and lets be honest, among certain sections of the public too) fed an incredible turn of events with banks failing, currencies sliding and in Europe, entire nations going tightening their collective belts.

The financial crisis is just one of many drivers that Giles Hutchins, author of The Nature of Business, sees ushering in a new era for business.

His message for leaders is clear. It’s time to learn from the natural world. You evolve or you die.

Hutchins is a management consultant, formerly of KPMG, who specialises in applying lessons from nature to help businesses boost their sustainability through practices like biomimicry and cradle-cradle production patterns.

“The downturn has been very positive in the long run. We need these shocks,” says Hutchins. “Quite a lot of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was shutdown because it wasn’t core to the business, those activities needed to change. These transformational times are forcing people to change.”

“The economy as it was is not coming back. The changes are needed.”

The result is that big business is now in a position where it wants to change. Companies like Unilever and Nike are held up as good examples by Hutchins.